Family of Denni request autopsy

Kate Lamb, Bali

BALI police have questioned two of the three friends who found Australian woman Dennielle North in her Kerobokan villa just before she was pronounced dead on Sunday morning.

The friends, Australian national Felicity Bloom and French national Agathe Ammeux, told police Ms North was still breathing when they found her on her back by the pool.

The two women said they rushed Ms North to Bali International Medical Centre (BIMC) hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

''The two friends we spoke to, Agathe and Felicity, confirm she was still breathing in the ambulance, on the way to BIMC, but the doctor pronounced her dead on arrival,'' said North Kuta police chief Aldi Alfa.

''We will question that doctor later this afternoon.''

At a press conference, the police chief described Ms Ammeux as Ms North's ''pacar'', an Indonesian word used to describe a boyfriend or girlfriend. Bali police have spoken to six witnesses so far, including the villa security guards and the two friends.

Advertisement

They are still locating a third friend known only as Kelly, who was also at the villa that night.

Ms North reportedly returned home with her friends at 3am on Sunday after finishing work at the upmarket Bali beach club, Cocoon.

The popular blonde hostess was found barely conscious at 9 o'clock that morning.

It remains unclear what caused Ms North's death but the family has asked that her body be flown back to Australia for an autopsy. Anthony Bevilacqua, manager of Cocoon beach club, said the North family was not treating the death as suspicious.

''They are all devastated, just like anybody with a tragic death in the family,'' he said, speaking on the family's behalf.

''It was an accident, full stop. Any foul play speculation is not on their mind.''

■ An Australian man who was stabbed at a New Zealand beach resort on New Year's Day has died in Waikato Hospital.

Police say Robert Murray Wilkinson, 64, and his wife told a man to leave after hearing a disturbance outside their Waihi Beach caravan about 1am on Tuesday.

Detective Inspector Chris Page said the stabbing was now a homicide investigation and a post-mortem will be conducted on Friday.